The fable of the 19th-century European “discovery” of Japanese prints and their catalytic effect on Impressionist painting is by now comfortably worn, threadbare even. But what were painters in Europe actually encountering? In this talk, curator Rachel Saunders takes a close look at a major new acquisition that shines a distinctly different light on European interest in “Japanese art,” and the ways in which this new category was constructed in Japan itself. TAKE A CLOSER LOOK: + Watch more talks which ReFrame the Harvard Art Museums’ collections:    • ReFraming The Collections at the Harv...  . + Roger Shimomura, American, “Shimomura Crossing the Delaware,” 2010. Acrylic on canvas. National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian Institution; gift of Raymond L. Ocampo Jr., Sandra Oleksy Ocampo, and Robert P. Ocampo © Roger Shimomura. https://npg.si.edu/learn/classroom-resource/shimomura-crossing-delaware + Watanabe Kōkan, Japanese, “Kesa no aki 今朝の秋” (“This Morning’s Autumn”), Taishō era (1918). Pair of six-panel folding screens; ink and color on silk. Harvard Art Museums, acquired with a fund established by Ernest B. and Helen Pratt Dane for the purchase of Asian art, 2017.80. https://hvrd.art/o/358128. + Watanabe Seitei, “Birds and Flowers of the Twelve Months, Japanese,” Meiji era, c. 1890. Pair of six-panel folding screens; ink and color on silk. Harvard Art Museums, acquired with a fund established by Ernest B. and Helen Pratt Dane for the purchase of Asian art, 2020.252. https://hvrd.art/o/369284. + Roger Shimomura, “Diary: December 12, 1941,” 1980. Acrylic on Canvas. Smithsonian American Art Museum, 1991.71. © Roger Shimomura. https://americanart.si.edu/artwork/diary-december-12-1941-32436. + Claude Monet, French, “La Japonaise (Camille Monet in Japanese Costume),” 1876. Oil on canvas. Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, 56.147. https://bit.ly/3yrcJkw + Watch “Surface Tension: Modern Japanese Painting Finds New Life,” featuring ground-breaking research and conservation of remarkable 1960 painting "Fuyu 冬" ("Winter") by the Japanese abstract impressionist painter Kumi Sugaï: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dO6fzu7EVbU. --- SPEAKERS: + Rachel Saunders, Abby Aldrich Rockefeller Curator of Asian Art, Division of Asian and Mediterranean Art, Harvard Art Museums; + Moderated by Susanne Ebbinghaus, George M.A. Hanfmann Curator of Ancient Art, and Head of the Division of Asian and Mediterranean Art, Harvard Art Museums. This talk is part of a series inspired by “ReFrame,” a museum-wide initiative to reimagine the function, role, and future of the university art museum. These talks examine difficult histories, foreground untold stories, and experiment with new approaches to the collections of the Harvard Art Museums, reflecting the concerns of our world today. Recorded May 4, 2021. © President and Fellows of Harvard College. For questions related to permission for commercial use of this video, please contact the Department of Digital Imaging and Visual Resources at am_divr@harvard.edu.